48 



New or Rare Grasses. 



By Dr. Geo. Vasey. 



In the last number of this journal were described several 

 new Pacific coast grasses, A considerable number of other new 

 or interesting forms have been received as the result of the col- 

 lections of different explorers, and I wish here briefly to give a 

 short account of them. Mr. J. Macoun botanized in Vancouver 

 Island the past season, and, in addition to the A /opeairus dcscrlheQ 

 in the January number, he sends the following: Deyeuxia Vancou- 

 verensis, a small species, lo or 12 inches high, with spicate pani- 



cle I l^ to 2 inches long, approaching D, strigosa^ Kth./ also Dey- 



euxia breviaristata^ 2 to 3 feet high, radical leaves very long, pan- 

 icle 4 inches long, narrow, loose, with short erect branches ; narrow 

 glumes equaUng the flower, the awn shorter than its glume or 

 nearly absent; hairs sparse, ^ to ^ as long as the flower. Dcs- 

 champsia c(2spitosa^ variety maritima^ 6 to 8 inches high, grow- 

 ing on the seashore ; Deschampsia atropurpurea, variety mtfto^^ 

 culms 10-12 inches high, slender, panicle few-flowered, spikelets 

 much smaller than the type; Glyceria ptimila, about 4 inches 

 high, panicle small, mostly ot three to five approximate sessile 

 spikelets with a lower branch ^ to i inch long; Bronius 



Macotinu, closely resembling B, erecttis, Huds., but with a smaller, 

 purplish panicle ; Elymiis Vancouverensis^ culms stout and rigid? 

 leaves involute and rigid, spike thick and dense, 4-5 inches long* 

 spikelets rigid, crowded, merely mucronate or very short awned. 

 With this are several peculiar forms or varieties, probably of 

 Ely mils Americanus. 



Mr. Thos. Howell, of Oregon, in addition to the two species 

 described in the January number, sends Melica Harfordii, variety 

 minor, from the Siskiyou Mountains, 10- 12 inclies high, with a 

 much reduced panicle; also the first introduction into this coun- 

 try, so far as I know, of Elymus Caput- Mediis<2, Linn. ; Glyceria 

 angustata, which is the Atropis angustata, Gris. in Ledeb., Po<^ 

 angtistata, R. Br., and P. Nootkaensis, Rupt. It is properly a 

 Glyceria by its convex — not keeled — glumes, and by its aquatic 

 habit -Also Glyceria festuc<Bformis, Heyn., which seems abun- 

 dantly distinct from G. distans. 



